The Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL Metro Area is an important political center in the state of Florida. It is home to a vibrant and diverse population, with a wide range of perspectives on politics. The area is served by two congressional districts—Florida's 15th and 10th—as well as several state legislative districts. Within those districts, numerous candidates run each election cycle for office at all levels of government. At the local level, city council and mayoral elections are held every two years. Furthermore, the Polk County Board of Commissioners holds elections every four years and also oversees school board elections in the county. Overall, there is an active political culture in the Lakeland-Winter Haven Metro Area that allows citizens to have their voices heard through voting and engaging with their elected representatives.
The political climate in Lakeland-Winter Haven Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
In Lakeland-Winter Haven Metro Area 42.2% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 56.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Lakeland-Winter Haven metro area remained strongly Republican, 56.6% to 42.2%.
The Lakeland-Winter Haven metro area voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Lakeland-Winter Haven Metro Area is somewhat conservative.
Florida is leaning conservative.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Lakeland-Winter Haven, Florida: r R r r R R
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Lakeland-Winter Haven Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 12,535 contributions totaling $896,692 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $72 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 5,726 contributions totaling $2,659,585 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $464 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)